Yes, I LIVE!!
Quick note, on ffn I'm going by katdemon18 for random reasons. And while this chapter is here on Portkey, it won't be available on ffn for another couple of weeks because the university I attend is evil and blocks ffn and there isn't a nearby starbucks or anywhere really that I've been able to find where I can reliably reach ffn. So yay for Portkey! Also, by now I'm pretty sure all of you understand that I don't own Harry Potter, otherwise the series never would have become so popular because you'd still be waiting for the second book. This story is purely for entertainment purposes, JK. Rowling owns Harry Potter, I only started playing with her characters because the first scene with Mina yelling at Harry was so much fun to write, and I now continue because I'm too stubborn to stop
Also, Lora belongs to the ever wonderful, helpful and all around awesome Paladeus
Chapter: Mina's Mess and Potter's Plot
"That self righteous TRAMP!" snarled a brunette woman. She stomped around the large room and promptly tripped on the hem of her robes and fell over. As she tried to get up she became entangled in her cloak.
"And why is it that sick stalker makes the whole billowing cloak thing look so easy?" the woman whined as she sat up on the hard wooden floor and glared over at a wall. Unlike its fellows which were painted a calming shade of green, the wall showed a scene of a beautiful, blonde woman speaking to another older woman. The older woman had a dazed expression on her face.
"She's only doing her job Mina, just like you. You knew when you offered Harry the contract that there would be others who would look into this anomaly and some of those others have more power than you do to try to keep things from veering too far out of control." a voice lectured and the petite woman turned slightly to glare at the large man who had appeared behind her.
"Jim," Mina began.
"Don't," Jim interrupted, "you don't like her, I know that and your dislike is going to cloud your judgment. You should be happy that she's willing to do so much to help you. If you can't be happy then ignore whatever she's doing for now and tell me about your charges, what's going on with that teacher, the Rhinehart woman."
The small woman took a deep breath and then another. She tried once more but a single glance at the screen made her lose any self of control. The deep breath was released into a scream of rage and frustration.
"I HATE HER!" Mina shrieked and Jim glared at his former apprentice who was obviously restraining herself from screaming anymore about her loathing of Destiny but it was a near thing as she continued to stomp about and spew obscenities about the blonde woman. He sighed and let it go for a moment longer and was pleased when the girl gained enough to control to stop her tirade against the beautiful woman who was now standing over a sleeping Harry Potter.
"Mina!" Jim interrupted sharply and he grabbed his former apprentice's arm. The action managed to jolt the petite woman out of her tirade and she looked up at the elder reaper.
"Harry's an idiot," Mina said suddenly, "But you already knew that. However, he's got something in the works so he's not a total loss, but with Destiny, look, look at what she's doing!" the young angel of death yelped and pointed at the scene. Jim sighed and looked at the scene. The beautiful blonde, Destiny, was smiling serenely as she stood over Hermione. Mina let out a snarl of frustration.
"You missed it!" the petite brunette growled at her superior. The large man sighed and shook his head.
"Mina, if you cannot get over this irrational hatred of Destiny then I'm going to have to do something about it." Jim pointed out in a deceptively calm voice, "And I will right now, unless you start telling me about your charges."
Mina froze and for a moment she was so still that if Jim didn't know any better he'd say she was a statue. Then she slumped.
"Rhineheart is fine. The explosion her student caused was minimized and help was given a bit of a boost so it got to her more quickly so the incident didn't kill her as it would have if I had not intervened," Mina began to expound in impersonal tones, "She had skin grafts and she's healing just fine. The explosion and its effects will help her in her private research, as hoped for, and in the next decade there will be a vaccine against lycanthropy. Eros is getting Rhineheart in the right position to meet her potential future husband. Provided all goes well, Fate has projected that her future granddaughter, provided she chooses to follow her in her grandmother's footsteps, will use the vaccine and take it a step further to create a true cure for lycanthropy. Of course there are others with similar projections that can take over if Rhineheart's granddaughter drops the ball or chooses to go become a chef or a pediatrician, which are her other projected paths in life. One of Lora's future charges has the best bet."
She broke off and Jim looked to see what had caught her attention. Destiny was in the viewing mirror again, apparently talking to Madam Pomfrey about something. He smiled. She was such a caring woman. He looked back at his apprentice and noted the expression of fury on her face but she took a deep breath. And then another, and another and then very deliberately turned her back to the viewing mirror.
"Mrs. Dubworth, Ms. Gray and Dr. Bryant are all fine with no foreseen life threatening incidents in the next six months," his former apprentice went on, her voice terse, "Eros's department is on the job to move Ms. Gray in the way of one of her projected best matches. I've got a close eye on Dr. Jackson and he's due to go on a mission in a few weeks but Sam has promised to keep an eye on him then. My newest charges will be born in a week or so, I'll be seeing each of their souls off before the births and the guardians of the mothers' of my charges all have my number and will page me if something starts to go wrong. Finally, Mr. Luckett will die next month in a driving accident and three days later Mr. Markson will try his hand at bungee jumping and his cord will snap. I've got both days cleared so I can get their souls well before and prevent any discomfort. At this moment, Harry is my priority. At the moment he's planning to do something really, really stupid so I need to get ready."
Once finished, she turned, still careful not to look at the scene on the wall again, and began to walk away from her boss and former mentor.
"Mina," Jim called and the girl paused and turned back, her face carefully blank, "Mr. Potter, remember, you need to keep your distance, he's not Harry to you, he can't be Harry. He's Mr. Potter. You've already pushed things by interfering with the goblins."
Mina had the grace to look embarrassed at her former mentor's accusation but she set her jaw and looked at him with a mutinous expression in her eyes.
"What interference?" she asked, her voice light.
"You thought we didn't know about that?" Jim laughed derisively, ignoring how Mina clenched her fists as he went on, "A reaper's duty is to protect his or her charge from any physical harm that may impede on their designated lifespan. It was one thing to haunt his aunt's dreams, since she and the rest of the Dursleys have caused him to die one way or the other. Threatening the goblins however to bring his inheritance to his attention was going beyond your boundaries."
"Bending the boundaries!" Mina protested immediately, "Bending only! He nearly died half a dozen times because he broke into the Lestrange vaults and the goblins tried to kill him. The dragon thing in line three only worked because of Chance and you know how he is! This way he circumvented that scenario altogether and we got another piece of Riddle's soul."
"That soul fragment is the only reason you haven't been punished, but it was noted Mina. And then there was the damn elf seeing the bracelet you gave the Potter boy," Jim growled.
"Well how on earth was I supposed to know that the elf would be able to see my mark on him?" Mina demanded, "Only those touched by death or chaos should have been able to see it!"
Jim gave her a look.
"Crap," Mina muttered and she turned away from her former mentor.
"Mina," Jim called to bring her attention back to him, "I need to tell you this. The goblin thing was balanced by the fact that it got a piece of Riddle's soul, but your mistake with the elf was too much Mina. I'm afraid that even if your charge gets all of Riddle's soul and fulfills Fate's plan for him, you've lost your promotion. You'll be lucky if you aren't demoted."
Mina blinked and her face slowly lost all color. She wobbled on her feet for a moment and Jim moved to catch her but she steadied herself and her eyes filled with tears as she moved away from him.
"Jim," she started, her voice faint. Jim shook his head.
"I'm sorry Mina, but to let the chaos touched become aware of our influence has really gotten a lot of departments worried and a few of them are up in arms. You know how others feel about Chaos, especially after the Incident. And then by forcing the goblins to bring Potter's inheritance to his notice, you technically imposed on their free will and you know how the higher ups feel about free will. Chaos is one thing, but infringing on free will is just going too far." Jim pointed out.
"But Jim," she started to say and he shrugged helplessly.
"Mina, just because you were my apprentice doesn't mean you get special treatment. You had to know there would be consequences." The Senior Reaper pointed out in a deliberately cool voice. He knew her well enough to see that she now believed he was the one who had ruined her chances at a promotion, he could see it in her eyes.
That Destiny was the one who had actually pointed out Mina's transgressions was a fact he kept to himself.
He wasn't sure why his former apprentice disliked the beautiful woman, he found her charming, but he knew bringing her up at the moment would probably break the poor girl. After all, to find that almost two thousand years of diligent work had just gone up in smoke and that she was running the risk of punishment, as if nothing she ever did counted, would bring any of them to the edge, especially when she had time to really think about it and fully understand the consequences of her actions. To discover that all that work was for nothing because of a casual comment made by someone as wonderful as Destiny, well, he didn't want to think of what Mina might do. As he looked at the still silent girl, he made a note to have Fate check on her.
"Well, go check on Potter then, after all, you've said he's about to do something stupid and you wouldn't want to miss that," Jim prodded her and mentally sighed as she again moved away from him. But at least she was moving.
=/\=
Harry was of course completely unaware of anything having to do with Mina. He was too preoccupied planning his fourth escape attempt from the hospital wing and what to do afterwards.
The young wizard had caught on to the meditation techniques that Hermione showed him very quickly and those techniques combined with nightmare free sleep and eating more food than he ever realized he ever had in his entire life prior to Hogwarts had helped him to regain almost full magical strength in just a week. But unfortunately, Madam Pomfrey did not believe in what her spells had shown her and she was determined to keep them in the hospital wing for the extra two weeks that it would take anyone else to recover from such extreme magical exhaustion. The boy-who-lived was less than pleased with this, especially when another three petrified basilisk victims, all older Hufflepuffs he didn't recognize, were brought into the hospital wing.
"Harry, calm down," Hermione demanded as Harry struggled just to get out of the bed. After the second escape attempt Madam Pomfrey had simply cast a charm to stick him to the bed. He couldn't do anything more strenuous than sit up and read a book. For a boy who had been extremely active for the past few months, it was akin to torture. For Harry, who knew what was slithering through the pipes of Hogwarts, knew what danger lay in waiting, it was unbearable.
It was nearing the Christmas holidays and the twins who, like Neville, had visited faithfully each day always gave them the latest gossip and the most common belief was that any student who left for the holiday probably wouldn't return, figuring it was better to be homeschooled than remain in a place that was all but suffocating from the tension caused by the not so mysterious Slytherin's beast. Not everyone believed it was a basilisk, a number of Ravenclaws had scoffed at the idea since no one had died but a few people had taken to carrying around mirrors after postulating that it could be a gorgon.
After hearing that theory, Hermione had confided to him that it would be impossible for a gorgon to be the monster of Slytherin. Apparently it was a documented fact in both magical and muggle books that the reflected look of a gorgon did nothing. However, a point blank gorgon's glare turned her victims to stone and they could never be revived. The basilisk's reflected glare put its victims into a frozen state.
Sometimes the boy who lived wondered just where Hermione found the time to learn all these things, but it was good to know. It was even better to know when Lavender of all people actually came by to visit Hermione and to try to chat with the bushy haired girl. Later Harry discovered that Hermione's refutation of the Ravenclaws' theory was spread all over the castle and it had caused a rift between the younger Gryffindors and essentially all the Ravenclaws. The Gryffindors, for all their mocking of Hermione and her intelligence, took a special, smug sort of pride in their smartest housemate. The Ravenclaws refused to believe that they could possibly be wrong, especially when the refutation of their theory was presented by a Gryffindor of all things. The slur against the intelligence of the house of lions had not gone unnoticed and it had many people rather annoyed. It also had all of the Gryffindor supporters sporting mirrors and talking about basilisks. Harry was annoyed by the new rivalry, it was bad enough that Slytherin hated the Gryffindors, but if it meant people were at least pretending to take the basilisk seriously then he didn't care overly much.
According to the twins, despite the rumors and the outright fights between houses over the theory of the basilisk, the teachers all refused to believe that the monster could possibly be a basilisk. Even Dumbledore was rumored to have scoffed at such a theory. Harry had raised a brow at that and George had backtracked.
"Okay," the twin admitted, "he didn't scoff so much as he dismissed the idea entirely."
"Then said some drivel about Hogwarts being the safest place in the world." Fred added derisively.
"All the teachers think that if the monster was a basilisk then there would just be dead students, not petrified students," George sighed.
"Professor Kettleburn, care of magical creatures professor, said it was impossible," Fred informed them, "Apparently Scotland's too cold for a basilisk. According to him, even if one had been around at the time of the founders and was originally Slytherin's familiar or anything, it would have died ages ago from the cold."
"McGonagall mentioned something about the Minister and one of the members of the school board coming to Hogwarts. They're supposed to be bringing in some magical disease expert to tell what's going on." George informed the hospitalized duo.
Harry straightened up as he heard this information. Something about it resonated in his mind. Hermione scowled lightly.
"I wish that you had never been oblivated," Hermione grumbled. "I can't even do anything right now without risking Madam Pomfrey finding out since she's monitoring our magical cores so closely. And why would they bring in a magical disease expert? I thought everyone believed that a creature is responsible even if the teachers apparently don't believe it's a basilisk."
The twins both shrugged.
"Everyone who's annoyed with a Ravenclaw is acting like they think it's a basilisk, but that's more to annoy them. Once people realized that the gorgon thing really was a stupid theory, the Ravenclaws came up with another idea. Since they're supposed to be the smart ones, most of the sheep of Hogwarts decided to follow whatever they say until a teacher refutes it. The most popular Ravenclaw theory is that it's actually a disease and someone's taking advantage of it to mess with everyone by claiming its being done by Slytherin's monster instead so it'll kill more people," Fred revealed.
"A few people think that the students who are petrified aren't exactly just frozen like they are so much as they're slowly dying," George said somberly.
"Either way, the mandrakes are almost fully mature and then Professor Destiny says she can whip up something to cure the petrified students," Fred sighed as his face took on the love struck, sappy expression that was becoming increasingly typical whenever Professor Destiny was mentioned. Harry thought about the beautiful new professor but he was only left cold. He didn't notice the way the manacle around his wrist was suddenly glowing slightly.
"If only we knew something that could get rid of the snake safely now," Hermione sighed, "without losing the chance to catch whoever is behind this whole thing. If only your traps had worked!"
"That's what those were for?" Fred demanded.
"We could always try again, with something new," George pointed out, "Now that you've actually told us what we'll be trying to trap, we can figure out something."
Harry shook his head.
"Whoever is controlling the basilisk already got through your traps once, they'll be more on guard from now on. This is likely a Slytherin, and not a Slytherin like Malfoy who just mouths off and threatens to tell his father if something doesn't go his way, but someone who actually knows what cunning means." Harry pointed out, "Otherwise Myrtle would have mentioned seeing someone and we could have found him or her by now."
"Not necessarily," George countered, "Myrtle's easily insulted and easily distracted."
"Not really a fun target," Fred added passively, "gets too worked up over something that isn't personal at all, never laughs."
"And ghosts don't have much of a memory," George added, "If something's really novel to `em then it'll stand out and they might remember if you question `em right."
"But there's no guarantee," Fred continued.
"And since she figures that everyone makes fun of her she doesn't bother to remember specific offenders unless they repeat themselves," George finished decisively.
"Then we've got to figure out some way to monitor the entrance to the Chamber. It's the only place we know that the heir will definitely go," Hermione declared. Harry remained silent. He disagreed and he knew that she knew that, or so he assumed from the pointed look that she sent him. But getting into a fight right now would be pointless.
"It's too bad that the map doesn't have a recall feature," Fred sighed.
"The map?" Hermione questioned.
"It's a map that my dad and his friends made," Harry explained, speaking before he could think. He blinked and looked at Hermione who's eyes were wide in surprise.
"Huh," Harry grinned, "do oblivations ever wear off?"
"Oblivations?" Fred asked.
"Dumbledore oblivated him last time he was here," Hermione growled.
"Dumbledore?" George began in disbelief, "Are you sure it wasn't someone else?"
"He's the only one who could have done it apparently," Harry informed the two Weasleys, after glancing around to make sure that Madam Pomfrey wasn't close enough to hear, "I told you things, asked you for things, and I don't remember any of it. I don't remember why I asked you such things or any of this stuff. Hermione's been working on helping me remember but it's slow going. I didn't know about the map until just now."
"Oblivations don't wear off," Hermione interjected, "but maybe my work on your memory has jarred some things loose and more will start coming back naturally. And yes, it had to have been Dumbledore. Harry went to the hospital wing with his memory intact one day and then when I came to visit him just a few minutes later, I saw Dumbledore leaving him and Harry didn't remember anything. Madam Pomfrey was the only other person in the hospital wing at the time, except for those who had been petrified, and she couldn't have done it since it would have been against her magical oath."
The twins exchanged looks and George nodded. Then they turned back to the younger pair.
"Setting that aside for now, the map shows everyone in Hogwarts wherever they are at the instant that we're looking at the map. If Filch is coming down the hall and one of us is looking at the map then we'll know and can get out of the way," Fred explained, "It also shows all the passages and passwords that the Marauders found."
"The Marauders?" Hermione asked, looking intrigued.
"My dad and his friends, that's what they called themselves," Harry told the busy haired girl. He felt a smile creep up on him. He was remembering!
"Moony, Padfoot and Prongs," the boy-who-lived went on.
"And Wormtail," Fred added, "Don't forget him."
The red haired boys laughed while Harry frowned. Something about Fred's statement didn't quite ring true. His scowl increased and he almost cursed. Just when he thought that he had begun to remember!
"We did look at it over Halloween, but no one appeared near Myrtle's bathroom," George pointed out while Harry brooded over the newest lapse in memory.
"Does the map really show everyone in Hogwarts when you use it?" Hermione asked and George winced.
"Not exactly," Fred hedged.
"If there's an adult around then the map will be able to tell you where they are and their name," George explained.
"But there are so many students in Hogwarts that it would be impractical for the map to show them all at any given time," Fred added.
"So instead the Marauders set it so you'll only see the people you know, unless someone's getting close to where you are of course," George informed them.
"If someone you don't know gets close then the map will tell you, it just won't give you a name," Fred finished.
"So even if we catch the heir on the map, if we don't know who he is then we won't be able to tell?" Hermione asked and the twins nodded sadly.
"And we don't pay much attention to the firsties," Fred admitted, "You two were an exception of course since you became friends with ickle ronniekins and Longbottom became interesting after a few explosions in Snape's class."
Everyone sent a look at the still unconscious potions master.
"Then we found it it wasn't on purpose," George sighed, "We had gotten so excited thinking there was a potential pranking apprentice among the new firsties."
"But no, just Snape being Snape and buggering up his class," Fred said with his own sigh.
"I suppose we could meet all of the first years," Harry said doubtfully, breaking away from his anger and frustration.
"It would be a thrill for them to meet the famous Harry Potter," George cackled and Harry scowled at him while Fred and Hermione laughed.
"Hermione, are there any spells in those journals that might help us track down the heir?" Harry asked, ignoring the grins on the twins' faces.
"Unfortunately, not one that works in Hogwarts," Hermione sighed, "the castle is just too filled with magic and the wards interfere with any of the methods your ancestors describe."
"How do you know?" Fred demanded, "After all, you said that we could apparate in Hogwarts."
"And yet," George began and with a small pop he disappeared from Fred's side and another pop announced his presence when he reappeared at the side of Hermione's bed, "Fred and I both can."
Now it was Hermione's turn to scowl.
"If you must know," she began testily, "It's because I tried using the spells in the journals. Every time I looked for anything, as long as it was within the bounds of Hogwarts then my spell didn't work."
"Where," Harry began but he stopped as Madam Pomfrey came stalking to the small group, a scowl on her face and two trays piled high with food floating beside her. Harry felt his stomach rebel slightly at the sight of so much food.
"Mr. Weasleys," Madam Pomfrey began, her tone brooking no argument, "Out."
Though they, like generations of their ancestors before them, were in many ways embodiments of the traits that Godric Gryffindor had so prized in his students, when faced with Madam Pomfrey, both twins were sure that tickling a sleeping dragon would be a safer pastime than disobeying the mistress of medicine. They retreated.
"Wait!" Hermione called after them, ignoring the sharp look Madam Pomfrey gave her, "Ask Luna to get my journal for me please! Tell her it's in my trunk. She should know the appropriate steps to retrieve it from there."
The twins exchanged looks but said nothing before they nodded to Hermione.
"Appropriate steps?" Harry asked as he pushed his food around on the plate. Madam Pomfrey glared at him so he quickly shoved a few bites into his mouth.
"Lavender and Parvati are my roommates," Hermione said darkly, "And they have no compunction with going into someone else's trunk and borrowing one's last clean skirt or skimming through someone's diary."
"Eat!" Madam Pomfrey commanded imperiously and the two Gryffindors reluctantly obeyed.
Harry wasn't sure why the formidable woman was so suspicious nor could he figure out what she was suspicious about, but her hovering was growing more and more tiresome with every passing second.
Still, after barely choking down the last bite of the mini feast, he feigned sleep by falling into the meditative trance Hermione had taught him, knowing that while he and Hermione were the only two conscious people in the hospital wing at the moment, Madam Pomfrey had other duties to attend to, other things to keep her away from them.
It took longer for her to stop monitoring than Harry expected and he wished that he had thought to ask the twins to arrange for some sort of suitable distraction before they had left. He had the brief image of unfamiliar first years, they were too small to be anything else, throwing up while others were holding rags against their bleeding noses and an older Fred was handing out chocolate and a few sickles while an older looking George was scribbling down notes.
Still, after years of living with the Dursleys, he had developed patience, even if he didn't like it, and he was still wide awake when Madam Pomfrey left. When he opened his eyes and saw how dark it was, the boy who couldn't remember assumed that the medi witch had gone to bed. He retrieved his glasses and concentrated. He wasn't sure this would work. He only had the vaguest whispers of what might be memories insisting that he could do this. But then, even if he could, Madame Pomfrey might sense it and come to check on him.
It began first just by seeing it out of the corner of his eyes. Little flashes, bits of bright colorful lights. But with concentration and a bit of trial and error, soon when he saw the hospital wing, superimposed over it were colored lights, some of them so strong that he had to keep blinking until his eyes adjusted to the light. At least he thought they adjusted. Whenever certain lights, such as the shimmering, blazing silver outside of the windows, made him feel as though he had tried to look at the sun, he only needed to keep blinking and somehow the light seemed to dim in his sight. It gave him yet another feeling of déjà vu but he ignored it for now. Apparently the ruler of the hospital wing couldn't sense it so he was going to use this to his advantage.
He looked away from the entrancing silver light and looked down at his bed. The colors over it were a soothing gray green green but he could see several other colors, little strings of darker green and thick ropes of purple, intertwined with the lighter gray green. The purple wrapped around his clothes, around his legs. He glanced over at Hermione and saw the ropes of purple light wrapped around her, holding her as firmly as they held him, or at least as firmly as they would hold him if they were solid.
He wasn't quite sure what to do at first but experimentation proved that if he sort of reached out he could mentally push the purple ropes. It was a bit as though he had his physical body and a mental one and the mental one was doing the work.
It wasn't easy work but slowly and surely he managed to untangle himself from the hold of the purple and dark green. By the time he was finished he was exhausted. He almost decided to give up and remain in the hospital wing for the rest of the night, but then he glanced over at the students who lay in their petrified state. He looked over at Hermione who restlessly shifted in her sleep, murmuring under her breath. He felt his resolve strengthen and carefully he made his way out of the hospital wing.
He wasn't sure why but he couldn't help but grin. He knew that he was probably heading off to his doom but it felt so right to actually be doing something rather than just practicing and trying to recreate whatever he had learned and forgotten. Besides, despite what Hermione thought, he did actually have a plan. After all, there was only so much he could meditate and he had to do something while Hermione was doing her homework.
That he could be doing his own homework had occurred to him but was put aside.
He kept his head down and his ears alert as he made his way through the halls as quickly as he dared. He knew he couldn't afford to be caught on his way to the chamber. Without his invisibility cloak he knew it would be more difficult to avoid the patrolling teachers and prefects and he was sure that the portraits would be curious, but he had to get to the chamber. He could only hope that he and the basilisk would be the only ones there.
=/\=
Oh gosh, that probably wasn't worth the wait, huh? I promise I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner! I'm so, so very sorry this took so long!
Once again, thanks to Paladeus for letting me bounce ideas off of him and for poking at me to get this chapter going! And for long ago giving me permission to borrow Lora, even if she was only mentioned she still belongs to him.
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